Diamond Star

[zankoku_zen]

Ambergris accord, guiac wood, white benzoin, immortelle, and Somalian myrrh.

I get light, white musk and something that I swear smells like carrot seed. Unfortunately, this has almost no throw on me.

[tinyvulture]

I love ambergris accord, there's nothing like it. Sweet, warm, with a woodsiness/graininess that's enhanced here by the guiac wood and benzoin. Such a lovely resinous blend, similar to In Templum Dei. ITD wins out only for reasons of personal nostalgia.

[LuneTubereuse]

Diamond Star was very different on me. I got a very soft and metallic lavender, very modern and powdery at the same time. And then more powder and cold wooden notes.

 

Unfortunately it devolved to a baby powder scent a few hours later.

[OctoberGwen]

OMG, I LOVE BETH'S AMBERGRIS ACCORD SO GODDAMN MUCH.

 

This is absolutely gorgeous, and for me is right up there with Eve for favorite OLLA scents. Stunning, musky "of the ocean but not aquatic" ambergris, grounded and given depth by the lovely resins and wood note. There is nothing sharp or discordant here whatsoever; this is sexy, soft, snuggly, and absolutely perfect.

 

A close-to-the-skin scent which I'm quite happy to slather.

 

Multiple bottle worthy.

[Atrous]

This is a really beautiful, close to the skin blend.

It's a light, musky ambergris with just enough Benzoin to give it a powdery feel but not so much that it turns into baby powder. Wood and resin play in the background providing some extra depth to Diamond Star.

 

I looked up what Immortelle is supposed to smell like: sweet, hay-like, honeyed, herbaceous aroma w/ smokey, tobacco, musk undertones.

So, maybe that's partly where the muskiness is coming from. The blend is also sweet, but not foody sweet, so maybe the Immortelle is adding to that as well.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: Clean but smoky. Pale, golden incense.

 

Drydown: Clear, frothy ambergris with an almost-citrus slant, which I'd guess is coming from the immortelle. Clouds of smoky myrrh soften the edges. There’s a holy, reverent vibe to this blend. I notice that the throw smells of vanilla tobacco, a product of the benzoin and myrrh, no doubt. Smoky, dry, and pale gold. There’s a hopefulness to it, which, again, I assume is a product of the immortelle.

 

Dry: The smoke and wood amp up a bit, bringing out the drier, more masculine elements of the blend. Cologne-ish. Diamond Star is a sophisticated incense blend, with a touch of muskiness and a hint of something just between aquatic and metallic. Pale yellow and smoky.

 

 

 

8 out of 10 bones

[Eemia]

This is almost straight baby powder on me. I don't get any of the beautiful wood or musky amber notes. No subtly changing effect and no morphing at all. It starts out thickly powdery and slightly sweet and stays that way for hours before it disappears. So disappointed!

[Anaire]

This pretty much went to skin scent on me. After drydown it went to a nice powdery scent. Pleasant, but not bottle worthy.

[theseagrows]

i think i'm getting soft woods and ambergris at first. this reminds me of something SO MUCH but i can't place it yet. it seems kind of "watery" yet not aquatic or "fresh", very evocative of ambergris in a theoretical way. probably literally too. there's something that reads a bit salty here to me too. i just realized that this reminds me of an amber rollerball hippie perfume i had in high school. i like how nostalgic this is for me, just not sure it's something i would wear a whole lot but i like it.

Edited September 24, 2014 by theseagrows

[poofie]

My notes for this are: "GLORIOUS. Lovely light incense, sweet and spiced. Not heavy or dark at all. Very light, though, may need a more generous application. 5/5" It stays pretty close to the skin. I'm not super familiar with ambergris, so I don't know that I can comment on it. Generally speaking I liked this because it was inscency without being so dark or heavy or resinous that I couldn't wear it on hot days.

Edited October 17, 2014 by poofie

[HerbGirl]

It took me a few months to 'get' Diamond Star. Incensey, musky, brilliant multi faceted and glowing but wrapped up in a comfy blanket? Yeah, that's what i smell. :-) Color association for this one is beige. I also love the ambergris here! This may be the genius, sleeper beauty of the OLLA line. These are all strangely addictive...

Edited February 19, 2015 by Herb Girl

[bulletslc]

This is a very close to the skin scent. It reminds me of a softer more complex Haunted. The ambergris accord is just lovely. Another OLLA win for me.

[Poenari]

I ordered decants of the entire OLLA set immediately after they went live last year. When they arrived, I tested them and put up mini-reviews on the Lab's FB group since the forums were down, but then I lost those when the FB group went away. So here we are, nearly a year later, and I'm re-testing the ones that I didn't immediately buy bottles of after testing.

I remember testing Diamond Star, because my impression hasn't changed a bit! On my skin, this is identical to the early 1970's original Bonne Bell Skin Musk perfume oil that I wore all through high school. Soft, slightly sweet skin musk scent, the original one in this bottle, not the crap that they sell now. I can't believe I haven't ordered a bottle of Diamond Star because I need this for old time's sake and because I love how it smells on me.

[satinworship]

I'm re-testing all my OLLA scents today to decide what to order back-ups of. Diamond Star is hands down my favorite OLLA scent, so I knew I would get another bottle.

To me Diamond Star smells like the very expensive agalloch wood/agarwood/aloes wood/oud chips that you can get from incense dealers. Just the purest, most complexly delicate wood with a background of musk that doesn't smell like skin musk...it's like the pure essence of a tree. From the moment I first smelled this in the bottle it's been 100% expensive aloeswood to me, and aging all these months has just deepened that association. This would be divine to scent wooden boxes and furniture.

I may have to get more than one backup of this as it's really beautiful.

[SophieCedar]

Diamond Star is the perfect oriental. Beautiful sweet woods, musky, spicy, incense smell with a touch of floral. This does NOT go baby powdery on me at all. Bottle worthy for sure.

[LizziesLuck]

I love immortelle, and it's not in very many of the Lab's scents. I also love ambergris and Myrrh, so very excited to try this!

 

Wet: Mmmm. Myrrh dominant on me so far, but a very pretty, feminine Myrrh, somehow. Warm, resinous.

 

Dry: Almost a Myrrh single note. Very sweet Myrrh. Really pretty. Doesn't go powdery at all. I'm undecided about whether I might like more of this. It's a really beautifully Myrrh on me, but I was hoping for a bit more complexity.

[roseus]

I think I must amp the ambergris accord and I am not mad about it. On me this is mostly ambergris and myrrh. Golden, musky, and just the faintest bit powdery. It smells faintly spiced and get some more sweetness from the benzoin. I am in deep.

[Little Bird]

What everyone else has said - this is super baby powdery on me. Ambergris accords can sometimes have a powdery amber musk type of scent to me, so I think that's what's happening here. Not really woody or resinous. A warm, super powdery, musky, amber-ish tone. Only lasts about an hour on me, which is fine, because I don't like powdery scents too much.

[angelamaria]

In bottle: myrrh and ambergris, I think. It's lovely: white, but warm with that delicious resinous undertone.

Wet on skin: ...where did it go? It almost completely disappears on my skin. The only thing left is the immortelle, for some reason. As it dries, it starts to get a bit resinous--but it has very, very low throw on me. The very little I can actually smell is lovely.

Dry: Weirdly, the throw improves in the dry period. It's definitely warm, comforting resins, not a white scent anymore but a very snuggly and comfortable brown.

Verdict: love the scent, and I don't think I have a specifically resinous blend in my keepers, but I'm not quite sure how often I'd be using this (not really a resins person), plus I will be in so much danger of over-applying due to the nonexistent throw in its wet phase. Pass.

[doomsday_disco]

2018 release.

 

In the decant: The Lab’s lovely ambergris accord accompanied by warm resins and some immortelle (which I recognize from Black Silk).

 

Wet: The warm resins reign on my skin, backed by the musky ambergris. I can smell the immortelle as well, but it’s not as strong as the resins or the ambergris. The scent is very warm, like being wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket.

 

Dry: The ambergris reigns, accompanied by the warm resins. I am getting more of the sweet benzoin now, and myrrh is also more prominent.

 

After a while, the myrrh becomes the dominant note.

 

Verdict: This is a lovely scent, but it is also rather light, until the myrrh becomes more prominent after a few hours of wear. I like it a lot more than I thought I would! I’m not sure that I need a bottle of it, but I’ll definitely hang on to my decant.

[windbourne]

This has aged into thick & sticky territory (as in, the oil has thickened), which is kind of neat. I've barely touched it, which is slightly odd considering it's fairly solidly in my wheelhouse of scent types I like. The bottle sniff is a bit sharp and myrrh-heavy, almost sneezy, but on the skin it blooms beautifully. It's an interesting contrast, both heavy and light in almost equal parts -- woody and resinous with a vanilla-esque sweetness and dim background salty skin-like undertone. It doesn't have huge throw, but it lasts for hours and as always, the last note to go is the ambergris. I think I know why I've mostly ignored it, though -- the immortelle almost pushes it into sickly territory at times and doesn't (imo) mesh well with the other notes on my skin. Once that fades, I love it a lot, but it takes a while to get there.

[skyturtles]

Wow. This is woody and resinous and addicting. Not notes I would usually fall for upon first glance, but I am on a quest to experience all of the OLLA blends. This is in my top 3 favorites so far, behind Blood Popsicle and In Templum Dei. This is nothing like those, and yet it is so, so OLLA. It is old, rich, complex, sacred, mysterious, comforting, warm. Like I said, I don't know enough about the individual notes here, so it's hard for me to pinpoint them. This is a keeper for sure, and I'm so glad I took a chance on this bottle.

[QueenProserpina]

I’m gradually amassing the entire OLLA collection and welcoming my eleventh BPAL fragrance! Warm, sweet, spicy, and musky, Diamond Star has an amberish quality that is softly powdery. It took a few weeks to settle after shipping, but has balanced out into a vaguely salty musk/incense blend with a hint of vanilla and possibly caramel and apricot. A subtle, cookie-like spice evokes coconut. The warm, ambery, powdery, vanilla-like note of late drydown is very reminiscent of Streets of Detroit, and I believe represents the myrrh. Purchased in December of 2023. In July 2024, a more cologne-like element is emerging and the general effect is less gourmand.

Edited July 27 by QueenProserpina
Additions

[Amoraexcena]

I love this! Gorgeous lightly-sweet resins supported by my beloved ambergris. I can smell a touch of gentle floral (I wouldn't recognize it as immortelle without the notes) in the bottle, but on my skin it disappears. As previous reviewers have noted, it doesn't have too much throw, but occasionally I'm getting lovely whiffs of comforting, sacred-yet-absolutely-wearable resins+ambergris. I imagine a venerable priestess of the old gods to wear this. Or maybe Professor McGonagall. Demure, mindful, grounded, mature, everything feels very deliberate and calculated, but in a kind way. I'm sure it's going to age superbly as well. Backup-worthy!